Mass
rallies held across Israel against tax hikes and spending cuts implemented by
PM Netanyahu's Likud party.
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Israelis
have held mass protests against tough new austerity measures after the
government of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu pushed through a
package of tax hikes and spending cuts.
Protesters
at Saturday's rally in Tel Aviv said the cost of living was already too high
and taking a toll on workers.
In
recent weeks, demonstrations have, at times, turned deadly, with some protesters setting
themselves on fire.
Meanwhile, the popularity of Netanyahu's Likud party has fallen while that of the opposition Labour party is rising fast, the results of a newspaper poll showed on Friday.
Israelis 'unhappy'
The
opinion poll carried out by the Dialog Institute for the daily Haaretz showed that if a
general election were held now, Likud's current 27 seats in the Knesset, or
parliament, would fall to 25. A July poll said Likud would secure 29 seats.
Shelly
Yachimovich's Labour, with 13 seats now, would win 21 seats in an election,
well up from a July estimate of 14.
A
total of 513 adults were surveyed for the poll, with a margin of error of 4.1
percentage points.
The
poll also showed Netanyahu's personal popularity plummeting to its lowest
point since his election in 2009 because of a series of tough austerity
measures.
Asked
if they were satisfied or dissatisfied with Netanyahu's performance as prime
minister, 60 per cent said they were unhappy, while 31 per cent said the
opposite. The rest had no opinion.
Israel's
next general election is due in October 2013.
But
the poll showed that if one were held now, the centrist Kadima party would
see its representation decrease from a current 28 seats to just seven (nine
in July).
The
recently formed Yesh Atid [There is a Future] party would harvest 12 of those
seats (16 estimated in July). Other parties would stay generally where they
are now in terms of representation, the poll showed.
Earlier
this week, the cabinet voted through a package of austerity measures, central
to which were a hike in income and sales taxes, as well as across-the-board
cuts to the state budget.
Most
of the measures, which are expected to further hit the underprivileged, are
to take effect immediately.
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